The train attendant is audibly embarrassed about what she has to announce. We are sitting in the Railjet Xpress 661 from Landeck in Tirol to Vienna. Sunday afternoon. Five hours across the Alpine republic. Many long-distance commuters, almost all with the Austrian climate ticket.
But now, Salzburg main station: “Please get off” and change to the next (slow) train – everyone who doesn’t have a seat. The train is crowded. Of course nobody wants to go out voluntarily – we stand for a quarter of an hour. Gone is the promise of fast Railjet connections in Austria.
Train overcrowded – police: Please get off
Occasionally the police had to be called upon to help people get out. This is the downside of the Austrian climate ticket. Actually the only one.
Otherwise, the network card for everything that drives publicly in Austria is a great success. Whether Railjet – the Austrian ICE – whether underground in Vienna, tram in Graz, regional buses in Tyrol, in Carinthia – everything is included for 1,095 euros a year (reduced: 821 euros). More than 160,000 already have a (paid) climate ticket, soldiers in the army get it anyway, many companies pay their employees it in the hope of saving travel costs – and keeping good employees.
Is the climate ticket worth it?
Everyone has to calculate for themselves whether the climate ticket is worthwhile. It’s worth it for commuters, frequent travelers and capital city dwellers: a little more than 90 euros a month for everything that gets you from A to B by public transport. What many have learned to appreciate – especially the Viennese – is that the Wiener Linien U-Bahn annual ticket is also included in the price. For Vienna, that is 365 euros, i.e. one euro per day, for the U-Bahn annual pass. The same applies in Linz, Graz and Salzburg: all inclusive.
Tariff zone A, B, C? Forget it!
The advantage for everyone: no complicated familiarization with incomprehensible fare rules from city to city. Anyone who has the blue-green check card, the “KlimaTicketÖ”, simply sits on the next bus or tram without thinking further about whether and what they actually have to stamp for it.
In principle, this also applies to long-distance trains, including the fast Railjet, unlike the 9-euro ticket in Germany. Since the ÖBB, the Austrian Federal Railways, but now urgently recommend: Please reserve a seat (3 euros), preferably with the ÖBB app. Because – see above – if you don’t have a seat, it can happen that you have to change trains at the next stop.
The success of the climate ticket is suddenly the problem
Austria has been experiencing a similar effect to Germany for weeks now with the 9-euro ticket: many more people are taking the train – but the train is not equipped for it. Austria is investing heavily, 18.2 billion euros by 2026, according to Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler, but it will be a long time before new trains and wagons are on the rails.
Increased petrol prices, more no-parking zones in the capital Vienna, maybe a little more environmental awareness and the climate ticket – that’s what attracts many people to the train. Especially on holiday weekends: everything is full. What already provoked the nice headline: “Experienced train commuters prefer to drive a car.”
Public transport in the countryside: expandable in Austria too
The climate ticket is intended to help solve an old problem. In many Tyrolean mountain valleys, in the Waldviertel, in Burgenland, in the countryside, the connections are not such that everyone could do without a car.
There is a lot of advertising with specific route suggestions – by bus and train and mountain boots from the front door to the summit tour and back. It’s okay, but alas, the last bus at the valley station is gone. Austria still has to work on this if “mountain sports” are no longer to be “car sports”.
–
